Posted on 09/04/2005 11:39:17 PM PDT by smoothsailing
Senate Homeland Security Committee officials announced late Friday they will begin an investigation this week into the catastrophe and have ordered officials to brief the panel Wednesday.
The oversight panel will look at ongoing efforts to rescue and comfort victims, and will not address preparedness and response questions until after the rescue mission ends.
"It is critical that we in the Senate do everything in our power to strengthen the federal government's response, and that we thoroughly examine what appears to be breakdowns in preparedness for and responses to disasters, without interfering with efforts that are currently under way," Sens. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and committee chair, and Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat and ranking member, said in a joint statement.
BRING IT ON!
Nam Vet
I think the implication was that if officials had been watching coverage of the disaster on TV they would have been aware of the convention center. They wouldn't need to be informed by state officials. If they were watching TV and their explanation now is that no state or city officials informed them of the problem then it's just CYA.
Can you provide an explanation as to why no one except everyone in the US and on FR was aware of the folks at the convention center but none of the federal officials were?
Does that even make sense?
The laws clearly state that the local auhtorities are in charge for no less than 3 to 5 days and THEY are in charge of evacuation.
The 'rats aren't gonna like that one bit.
I'm still struck by something that's been bothering me all week. Why didn't the Lousiana officials let the TV camera's inside the Superdome? I never saw one TV shot from inside the Superdome, but I heard a whole lot of reporters "talk" about what was happening inside. CONVERSELY, before anyone arrived from LA, there were TV cameras inside the Astrodome in Houston.
Got Bus?
Someone started a separate thread for the article.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477598/posts
The news channels seemed to know that things had gone to hell by Thursday. It pretty clear that there was going to be a disaster in the Superdome as early as Tuesday Morning.
If FEMA and DHS had paid attention to the news reports it would have been clear that there was a disaster brewing -- especially when compared with what they were getting from the local officials.
I've missed a lot of the coverage, I'm sure but I never heard about the convention center until much later in the week and I'll venture a guess that it was Thursday because I didn't watch TV on Wed..
I heard one say they heard about it on TV..called a local official and it was denied..WHO knows.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477598/posts
Nagin said slow response cost lives (singles out Gov, who asked for 24 hours to make a key decision)
Lots of stories..pick one..
The plan on the part of the state officials was to let the people fend for themselves and hit the federal government for money afterward. I think they have been viewing the hurricanes as oppotunities get some dough. Look at the way they've behaved through this whole thing, and tell me they're anything but greedy tax whores.
Check out the comments about the buses. No mention of school buses, or the requirement to buses evac in the city's evac plan.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/
Superdome's Condition Leaves Mark on Doctor
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2005 9:44 p.m.
By Richard Meek
Staff writer
Perhaps it's the stench that Dr. Kevin Stephens will remember the most.
It was a stench that was a gumbo of human waste, sweat, and despair.
For four days, Stephens, the Health Department director in New Orleans, administered to the sick in the Superdome, his primary patients being those in wheelchairs and nonambulatory. He watched conditions deteriorate from one of calmness on the eve of Hurricane Katrina crippling the city, to one of frustration by the time he was evacuated to the adjacent New Orleans Arena on Wednesday. He was taken to Baton Rouge on Thursday.
"I would not have even asked my dog to live in there," Stephens said Sunday in the shadows of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSU, where the conditions inside were infinitely more stable than those he left behind in New Orleans.
"On Sunday, everything was fine, we had electricity, water and air conditioning," Stephens said. "On Monday, we lost electricity. By Tuesday the water was coming in through the holes in the roof, the electricity and air conditioning were off and toilets were beginning to back up. People were getting frustrated."
Stephens said he was aware of the water continuing to rise outside the Dome, but he was uncertain as to whether most of the evacuees knew. By then, however, the sliver of light filtering in through the two holes left in the Dome's mammoth roof courtesy of Katrina was that of despair, not of hope.
"I never felt threatened and I walked around the entire place," Stephens said. "I was talking to people, administering first aid. But people were ready to get out of there. The conditions were horrid and horrible. The stench was unbearable. If we had electricity, it would have been so much better."
But Stephens stopped short of placing blame on authorities for not responding to the needs of the city sooner. He said it would have been impossible to have the required number of buses arranged that were required to evacuate such a large number of evacuees.
"Buses were running (regular routes) to other places," he said. "If you own a bus company and had that many buses available, you would be out of business."
Stephens said he called for additional help and people responded, including Dr. Fred Cerise from the Department of Health in Baton Rouge.
"He came in and stayed with us, and slept with us," Stephens said. "I didn't expect that."
Stephens said he survived off of MREs and water, and that he lost weight.
"It was something I never expected to do," he said, before quickly adding, "I don't ever want to go through something like that again."
Really? How was it clear? Was anybody reporting from inside?
I wonder if I will ever use so many poor choice words in one sentence ever again.
I personally heard Air Force One trying to find Mayor Nagin via shortwave radio for a while when they were doing the flyover on Wednesday afternoon. There was no communications from N.O. and the North Shore to Baton Rouge from the storm until that time, as the radio comms were all down from the Hurricane. (The City of New Orleans system was destroyed, as well as certain cells of the State system)
National Hurricane Center also finally made a contact with Slidell NWS during the same time, getting initial estimates. Bush was the first one from the Administration to see the damage.
from CNN
Bush, who cut short his Texas vacation to return to Washington following Hurricane Katrina, sat somberly on a couch on the left hand side of the presidential jumbo jet peering out of the window during the 35-minute flight over the hurricane-damaged areas.
"There wasn't a whole lot of conversation going on," McClellan said. "I think it's very sobering to see from the air.
"And I think at some point you're just kind of shaking your head in disbelief to see the destruction that has been done by this hurricane."
Air Force One descended as low as 2,500 feet (750 meters) over New Orleans during the flight and 1,700 feet (510 meters) over parts of Mississippi. Air Force One normally flies at an altitude of around 37,000 feet (11,100 meters).
Air Force One flew over the Superdome sports stadium in New Orleans, where thousands of refugees from Katrina are being sheltered, and downtown areas of the city before heading east over the devastated Mississippi coast.
At one point, Air Force Colonel Mark Tillman, the plane's chief pilot, brought the jet so low that it seemed to be barely above the skyscrapers of New Orleans.
From the air, New Orleans appeared to be almost completely under water. Residential neighborhoods were flooded up to the roofs and even above in some places.
Heading east, some suburban and rural communities were demolished. Forests were leveled and buildings reduced to matchsticks.
After flying over Louisiana and Mississippi, Air Force One circled over Mobile, Alabama, and headed north for Washington.
There were "rumors" of what was going on inside, but nothing firm. The gunfire, rapes and throat slittings were definitely being reported on the air.
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